quoted 3 lines From: Ian Pojman [mailto:ian@webice.net]
> From: Ian Pojman [mailto:ian@webice.net]
> -- no no. you can view the first and last sets of 3 in a 6/8
> measure as sets of 2 beats,
No, but like I said I'm a moron. For the life of me I can't see how to
interpret 3 beats as 2 beats.
quoted 4 lines .. actually better said, you can look at the the 4 beats in
> .. actually better said, you can look at the the 4 beats in
> 4/4 as 2 sets of triplets, or 6/8,
> because each quarter note is worth 1/3rd of a half note, make
> any sense?
Nor can I see how a quarter note is worth 1/3rd of a half note. I *can*
imagine the four beats in a 4/4 track as four sets of triplets, which would
result in what might be called *either* a 4/4 or 12/4 signature (I think).
This is pretty common (1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3). But 6/8 is, as far as I
know, simply a kind of double time 3/4. And there's no way you can waltz a
4/4.
When someone says something is 6/8, they will almost always intend pretty
unambiguously to mean "there are six beats in each measure." By "measure" we
usually mean a timeframe after which a beat pattern repeats, especially in
pop music (which is what most IDM is). Beats are discrete things, like
integers, and cannot be divided. A proper 6/8 track feels like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 etc.
quoted 3 lines see you could call each 7/8 measure a beat and consider four of them to
> see you could call each 7/8 measure a beat and consider four of them to
> comprise a larger measure of 4/4. Thats the most obvious interpretation of
> the "danceable" feel one can get from such an odd time sig. You can do
this
quoted 2 lines with anything... itd be interesting to see a set of 3 7/8s or 3 4/5s
> with anything... itd be interesting to see a set of 3 7/8s or 3 4/5s
> together instead of 4, which is what people usually do.
I see where you're going now. Well, if you start considering measures as
beats then sure, you can interpret anything any way you want. A symphony
with four equal-length movements might even be considered one giant 4/4
measure!! (actually, I've always wanted to see that - a mandelbrot set song
whose macro structure mirrored it's micro structure, and where there were
lots of little symmetreies in between)
But ultimately a time signature for pop music is usually determined by where
the listener feels the "ones" are, that is, where is the home beat and how
many foot taps does it take to get to the loop point.
A really great track along these lines (but kinda different too) is from the
band We, called "Beleive Porpoise":
http://www.graphpaper.com/believe_porpoise.mp3
The track overlaps a slow 3/4 beat on top of a slightly quicker 4/4 beat
(not triplets, really), so one rhythm track loops every 3 beats, and the
other one repeats every 4 beats. It takes 12 beats for the two to
resynchronize. Now, is this a 12/4 beat? I dunno, my brain is getting
clogged.
quoted 1 line so we agree!
> so we agree!
I guess so, who knows, this stuff is too complex and theoretical. Cheers!
- Cf
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org